


I hate the cold months, I miss you so much

by ChicagosLights



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, diver!patrick, mer!pete, merfolk, merman au, this is part of a bigger au I have yet to start writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24385834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChicagosLights/pseuds/ChicagosLights
Summary: Patrick is a diver that in 2013 stumbled upon the secret of merfolk existing. Skip ahead to present time and it's just a look into the life of when Pete, the orca merman, returns from warmer waters to be with Patrick in the warm months. It's just senseless fluff but I've been having a bad week and I thought I'd share this AU with people
Relationships: Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz
Kudos: 20





	I hate the cold months, I miss you so much

July 15th, 20 2013

_ There was a lot to be seen near the docks, sometimes there’d be seals playing or the occasional octopus that would be clinging to the wooden legs, sometimes there’d be fish or sometimes crabs curious about the divers nearby; in all the years Patrick had been diving he’d never seen anything like Pete. Maybe a normal person would’ve been horrified at the sight of a strange creature with almost translucent skin with upper half being humanoid (aside from the clawed hands) and bottom half being that of an Orca whale; Patrick however had just stared with wide eyes at the creature peeking out from a rocky outcropping beneath the water during one of his dives, the panic didn’t set in until the creature began to slowly swim out and Patrick saw the Orca bottom half.  _

_ It wasn’t safe to swim to the surface fast, there could be all kinds of complications but this time Murphy’s law cut Patrick some slack as he reached the surface and scrambled to climb into his boat. He practically threw his head gear to the floor and tried to remove the air-tank from his back when he felt the boat jerk a little, to his stomach churning horror an Orca fin breached the surface before going back down; near the Stern of the boat Patrick saw the pale clawed hands reach up and grab the edge, now the panic had set in fully and froze him as the creature pulled itself up a little to stare at him. Scream, start the boat, run at the creature and push it away, throw his mask or flippers maybe? All of these passed through Patrick’s head as he watched with a cold feeling filling his gut as the creature pulled itself fully into the boat, landing with a thump and making a discomforted screech sound.  _

_ Finally Patrick’s mind kicked back into gear but not in any way that would get this creature off his boat, instead he stumbled backwards and nearly toppled back into the water. The floor of the boat hit his rear hard and now Patrick found himself awkwardly bent around at awkward angles and with a sore tailbone, the creature watched the whole thing and let out what Patrick thought might’ve been some kind of a laugh but those teeth reminded the poor man of a predator about to tear into their prey. Speaking of predators, before Patrick knew it he was staring into the endless eyes and felt the uncomfortably warm breath of the creature against his face; now that it was closer Patrick could see what he thought were black eyes with an uncanny valley look now almost looked more like polished orbs and he could see veins, arteries, even the vague outline of a skull.  _

_ The creature had one arm propping himself up on a seat and the other lay across Patrick’s waist, to his confusion he didn’t feel any pressure of being held down and the creature even allowed him to sit up a little though it didn’t move any further back. A few moments passed, the creature not moving and Patrick could see it thinking (of course his still terrified mind was imagining it was debating on how to rip a bite out of him, this thing was half Orca for fuck’s sake he was sure it had the teeth to do it even if it had a human appearance above) before it nodded-why did it nod?- and Patrick jumped as the arm over his waist moved to...cup Patrick’s face gently…?  _

_ What in the actual fuck was going on, the creature’s fingers awkwardly pet along his face and the occasionally brush of claws had Patrick staying deathly still; fingers awkwardly trace along his cheek then jaw, he winced as his lips and nose were smushed followed by the creature tracing along the shell of his ear before reaching up to run through his hair. There was a small smile starting on the creature’s lips and Patrick was beginning to see just how soft they really were, for a second again they really did lock eyes and all he saw was curiosity and gentleness. It moved back then, clearly uncomfortable as it began twisting its body and Patrick grunted as the tail didn’t hit him with full force but still he would probably have a bruise when he got back to the mainland. Now he had a better look at it and Patrick realized that was what it wanted, ‘you let me look at you so now you can look at me’ sort of deal.  _

_ Obviously enough it was bigger than Patrick (not that that was saying much being 5’4), the saddle patch he noticed curved in what almost looked like a blob-like bat with something curving around the dorsal fin and the tail flukes even looked a little different from that of a normal Orca with sort of soft serrated edges like mock-bat wings almost. Beside the creatures hips lay large flippers and above those the markings where Patrick imagined eyes would normally be, he gasped softly as the creature seemed to notice him staring at the flippers as they wiggled a little. The upper half Patrick could now see was just like the face in eerie appearance, curiously to him the creature had ears that were kind of Hobbit-like with how soft yet pointy they were but what finally clicked was it had hair. _

_ No, wait, maybe it was just something similar to hair? Brendon had always raved on and on about merfolk and what their hair actually was and Patrick vaguely recalled him saying that the hair had to be alive but...it looked pretty damn normal to him, actually it looked like it was starting to dry and curl a little. Without thinking and all fear seemingly gone, Patrick leaned forward from his awkward position and ran a hand along the creature’s hair; his heart altogether stopped when both hands grabbed his arm, fuck this thing was going to break his arm-oh, no, instead the creature had moved Patrick’s hand to press into his cheek where it made pleased squeals that sounded quiet but might’ve just been to high for Patrick to hear. Those happy sounds were short lived as both Patrick and the creature heard the sound of a boat nearing, the creature gripped Patrick’s hand painfully and when the diver looked over his shoulder he stared confused to see a research boat where his boss was leaning against the railing.  _

_ “Hi...Andy…”  _

_ “We were wondering why you weren’t back yet, it’s getting late Patrick” he gestured up above them by barely moving his hand upwards and sure enough the sun had set fairly lower than when Patrick had first dived “you made a friend though, I’m surprised since he doesn’t really like this area”  _

_ “Uh…” okay so the creature was a he, looking back Patrick could see a new look that had him a little frightened, one that screamed ‘move me from this spot I dare you’ “he...he’s beautiful”  _

_ Wow, what a save Stump.  _

_ Andy laughed though and honestly this whole scene was starting to give Patrick a headache, what the hell was going on? “Come on, it’s getting late. You should probably head home, or you could stay at the research center if you want. He’d probably like that”  _

_ “Huh?” the center didn’t have any rooms-wait this boat was way more high tech than what Patrick was used to and-and there was a fucking Orca merman thingy still clinging to Patrick’s hand “I think I”m going to throw up”  _

_ That obviously wasn’t a good look in front of your boss but then again Andy had seen a literal octopus clinging to Patrick’s ass before and that hadn’t been the most complimenting of things for your first week to have had happen so it didn’t bug him all that much; the creature though had made panicked noises when Patrick had jerked his arm out of its grasp to hurry to the side of his boat to unfortunately hurl up his tuna sandwich and chips. The creature had made sounds of disgust before flipping over to fall back into the water on the clean side, it was then Patrick noticed Andy had hooked up the boats together.  _

_ “This is a lot right now I know” Andy said once Patrick was on the larger more high-tech boat, he’d given him a bottle of 7-up to nurse his nausea “I can ask Joe to drive you home if you’d rather be away from the water right now”  _

_ Patrick took another tentative sip before looking out through the windows down at the water, the creature had started swimming alongside them with ease “I don’t….I got sent out here to look for crabs or maybe get a few seaweed samples, I didn't think I’d see Brendon’s dream creature come to life...does he have a name?”  _

_ “He does but we don’t understand him. A few other people know about him, all of them gave the stupidest name suggestions but we landed on Peter after a while. He likes being called Pete more though” Andy seemed to consider something before giving Patrick a stern look, quite scary if your boss was tattooed and could probably bench-press you “don’t talk about him with anyone else, alright? I’m going to have to make a few calls but there’s other people you’ll have to meet and I’m serious Patrick don’t talk about him with anyone else”  _

_ “I won’t, I don’t think anyone would even believe me and Brendon would probably think I’m fucking with him” Patrick looked back out to see Pete’s dorsal fin breach the water before he went under completely “Pete huh...I like it” _

* * *

Present

3 loud knocks at the door woke Patrick up rudely from his sleep, he sat up slowly feeling like crap and stared bleary eyed at the door before whoever was there walked away; he sighed and rubbed at his face, another night with the same memory of Pete huh? He hoped that wasn’t an omen or something. The motion sensor lights kicked on when he stood from his bed and did his morning routine of self care (half falling asleep standing brushing his teeth) and getting dressed (wearing the same outfit from yesterday, he hadn’t had his coffee yet so sue him). Breakfast was ready judging from the smell coming down the hall and he was greeted with the other two tired researchers in the building; Dallon sitting at the table flipping through a binder and Joe was cooking. 

“And he rises after all” Patrick scowled at Joe but still took the mug he was handed “I thought you would’ve been up sooner”

“For what, more fish watching?” Patrick took a big gulp, ignoring how hot the coffee was “I like this job but I sleep when I can”

“I’m pretty sure he was more referring to Pete coming back today” Dallon chimed in with a hum.

That had Patrick more awake than the coffee, had 6 months already passed? 

Joe placed plates down in front of both men then went to make his own plate “ you still have to get those reports finished, don’t forget that. Lover boy might have to wait unless you finished them last night otherwise you know Andy can’t let you see him” 

“Unless I got new assignments I finished them last week, why else would I be sleeping all day-don’t answer that” Patrick snapped when Joe gave him a smug look.

“You’ve had seven years to get used to his migrating patterns, It’s just funny to see you keep forgetting them” 

“Mm…” Patrick munched thoughtfully on a piece of bacon “I know for a fact Andy would still let me see Pete even if I had work to get done”

“He likes me more than you” 

“You’re both beautiful boys, now can I ask you two for some ideas on how to get this seal colony to move?” Dallon interrupted, seal colony?

“Patrick didn’t get the memo about the colony yet. You know that marina they opened by the north side of town? Overnight some seals decided to make it their home, probably because tourists were throwing food to them. How about you go see if lover boy’s by the dock? I’ll help Dallon out” Joe handed Patrick his plate and scooted his chair over to Dallon’s side “alright, show me the work”

Patrick put the dishes in the sink then headed out the side door, he shivered as the wind hit him and hugged himself as he walked down the hill towards the road. Crazy that the research center had now become his second home, but then again he didn’t expect 7 years ago to find a mercreature while just doing a normal dive. After Andy had brought him back to the research center he was briefed on everything; mercreatures existed and were only known by a few countries, all having their own section of scientists and conservationists attempting to continue keeping them hidden (Patrick had asked the point of that but Andy had told him he wasn’t allowed to questions his bosses so Patrick dropped it) and try and learn more about them until the world decided it would be best to reveal them to humanity. 

There’d been a lot of messy paperwork but eventually Patrick joined one of the 9 sections in North America, Pete had definitely been happy that day as he’d nearly pulled Patrick under the indoor pool they had where creatures from outside could come in. 7 years Patrick had been here and within them he’d learned a lot about Pete; it took a great amount of effort to speak “human” as the merman had said once, Pete while originally being from a much warmer climate had developed his strange skin because he’d stuck around in colder waters so when Patrick found him it was because he’d been in a colder part of the ocean for a lengthy amount of time, that Pete’s pod had lost him back in 2010 but thanks to the research center they’d been rediscovered and that’s where Pete would go in the colder months. 

Oh, and that he had decided within the short amount of time they’d known each other (4 months) that he was in love with Patrick. 

Patrick sat at the edge of the dock once he reached it and looked down at the water, there were fish swimming around through the rocks and Patrick was pretty sure he saw a crab or two but no Pete. well, duh, the day was still probably young and Patrick didn’t bring his phone with him so all he could was try and guess where the sun was behind the clouds; more fish, a lot more crabs, a few eels that confused Patrick as to why they were out, and at some point a light drizzle had begun. Hugging himself tighter and scooting back Patrick huddled into a ball, now he was regretting not stopping for his jacket-he sat up straighter seeing a dorsal fin in the distance for a second then scrambled to stand up, the water was empty still and Patrick scanned around the dock to see but...nothing? 

“Pete?” he called, moving closer towards the dock’s edge “Pete? That was you I just saw right?”

Just the sound of the water hitting the legs of the dock, Patrick huffed and decided it might’ve just been some other creature probably and decided he would head back up to get his phone. As he turned though something slammed into the dock and Patrick shrieked as he lost his footing, falling back into the water; salt water burned his eyes and he choked on the water filling his mouth, just as fast he was hauled out of the water and wrapped his arms around the shoulders of whoever had pulled him up, hacking and wheezing to get air in. 

While Patrick wanted to snap at Pete for causing him to fall in the water once he got his breath back his eyes met Pete’s and he softened immediately; instead of the pitch black eyes Patrick had first seen Pete’s eyes had changed to how they were meant to be; gold caramel eyes that were looking at Patrick with complete adoration and love. Patrick wrapped his legs around Pete’s waist and cupped his cheek to kiss him, Pete made a pleased sound and tightened his arms around the other’s waist to deepen the kiss. A loud crack of thunder had Patrick jerking back and looking up, sure enough the sky now looked angry. 

“Shit um, okay let’s head back to the research center alright? I know you’re a strong swimmer but I don’t want to somehow get sucked under while making out” Patrick started to push away but Pete growled and shook his head furiously “Pete I’m not-okay fine what do you have in mind?” 

Pete carefully turned around and kept hold of one of Patrick’s arms, pulling it closer to give him the message of ‘hold on to me’; Patrick got the memo and looped his arms around Pete’s neck, as secure as he could be Pete started swimming away from the docks with Patrick clinging to him in fear. What the hell was he doing, there was a storm coming and he wanted to take Patrick out somewhere? He’d shut his eyes after a while to avoid sea water and rain blinding him so now all he had was to hear the water around the two of them sloshing around and the thunder getting louder. Pete swam for a while but started to slow down, the rain had begun to pour harder and started to feel like Patrick’s back was going to bruise; he opened his eyes when it sounded like they were in a cave...to see that they were in a cave. 

Huh...when did Pete find this place? Where  _ was  _ this place? Patrick looked around as Pete swam up to where a beach was and helped Patrick climb off his back to sit in the sand. He pulled himself up and out of the water to lay by him and it gave Patrick a moment to look over him; he’d gotten taller (longer? His tail had grown) and he had his hair tied back with some kind of leather chord, was it longer now too? Patrick reached over and pet along Pete’s stomach, he jumped a little but smiled dreamily up at Patrick. 

“I missed you, it sucked not seeing you. I’m really happy you’re happy back” Patrick traced along a tattoo of broken ship masts looking like a necklace of thorns almost, Pete let out a breathy sigh and reached up to cup Patrick’s cheek “I love you” 

Pete made a little joyous squeak and Patrick was pulled down into a tight hug, nuzzling and smushing his face into Patrick’s neck and cheek. He stared speaking-or rather making noises-softly in Patrick’s ear while his hand rested under Patrick’s wet shirt, speaking of as much as this moment was sweet the wet clothes were uncomfortable. Patrick wriggled around enough for Pete to let go, he started to pull his shirt off but stopped because honestly having to put wet clothes back on would suck but he was uncomfortable as fuck wearing them too. He looked around the cave to see what was really around; it looked like a pretty basic cave with just rocks and such...looking back at the mouth of the cave outside looked like it was starting to calm down a little so maybe they could just head back to the center? 

“Petey, this place is really beautiful but I don’t want to wear wet clothes so, can we swim back to the center? I’ll go open the private pool gates near the back and make sure it’s off limits to just us”

Pete seemed to consider that, it wasn’t Patrick’s imagination that Pete had looked a little hurt at Patrick wanting to move from this area but it was probably the mention of “private” and “just us” that had him thinking on it; finally Pete nodded and once again Patrick was clinging to his back while he swam. The storm had started up again once they reached the dock and Patrick almost tripped as he ran back to the research center, Joe was in a room he passed by and to his embarrassment whistled after him “don’t make messes in the pool!”. Backpack with towel and clothes in it, Patrick was heading down the hall to the back area of the center; just like near the west side of the center building there was an indoor pool near the back along with an outside one as well, both required a key which was a pain in the ass for Patrick to find since it wasn’t hanging off the hook like it should’ve been. 

Finally inside the back center Patrick unlocked the gate and walked towards a little floating deck area that Pete had quickly swam to, setting his backpack down Patrick took his sea-water soaked clothes off and sat down on the floating deck. Pete made his happy squeaks again and even a few weird burbling noises as he moved between Patrick’s legs to snuggle into him, sighing happily as Patrick started petting down his back. That was something Patrick liked about Pete, over the years he’d managed to help Patrick feel better about his body so despite being heavier than when they’d first met (and also the fact it wasn’t safe for Patrick to dive anymore) Pete seemed to love how soft Patrick was. 

“...love you…” Patrick gasped and gently pushed Pete back so he could look at him, it was a little hard to see but Pete was definitely blushing. 

“Yeah, love you, so much Pete” he leaned closer and Pete met him halfway to kiss again.

It felt perfect, warm lips and dancing tongues while Pete was feeling along Patrick’s sides down to his thighs making him whimper and moan. Patrick broke the kiss to move to Pete’s neck, he sounded musical while Patrick nipped along his throat until he firmly bit down on Pete’s shoulder being rewarded with a beautiful sound. He reached up and pulled on the leather chord holding Pete’s hair up and moved back to look at him, it was long now and there was silver here and there but it perfectly framed Pete’s face; fuck, everything about Pete was beautiful wasn’t it? Patrick cupped his face and kissed him again, licking inside his mouth and stroking Pete’s cheeks with his thumbs. 

Some time later when Patrick had wrapped himself in the large towel and Pete was cuddled into his side he found himself suddenly feeling extremely emotional, this wasn’t something Patrick had ever thought he’d have; he never thought he’d have a partner that loved him despite gaining weight or starting to bald (relationships in the past had damaged him enough), he never thought he’d have a partner that wouldn’t snap at him to shut up or to just stop being a workaholic without giving him an ultimatum, he never thought he would feel the kind of love that was only in dreams for people wishing on stars ignoring them. Pete whimpered when he heard Patrick sniffle and quickly slipped back into the water to float in front of him, he made a soft whistle noise seeing tears beginning to drip down Patrick’s cheeks and moved closer to cradle his face and wipe the tears away. 

“I’m alright, I’m okay, I’m just-feeling a lot right now I guess. You know I love you right? I know you can’t say it back in English and I don’t need you too, I don’t want you to stress yourself I just want you-I need you to know that I love you Pete” Patrick sniffled and Pete cooed, he pressed a soft kiss to Patrick’s lips before pulling him into a tight hug “Fuck I’m sorry, I didn’t think your homecoming would be me crying” 

Pete grumbled and leaned Patrick back enough to see his face, Patrick started to say something but Pete awkwardly smushed his fingers against his mouth to keep him from doing so. He frowned and moved Pete’s hand away, what was that for-

“Don’t want anyone...but you” Patrick stared at him then, both with awe and confusion “just you, love you ‘Trick..don’ cry anym..ore please?” 

“Pete don’t, you’re stressing your voice” Pete scowled and shook his head, apparently Patrick’s confession had brought one out of Pete as well.

“Love you, want to...always be with you and make you ha-appy” Pete winced at half choking on the word ‘happy’ before shaking it off and looking Patrick in the eyes “My Patrick, my Mate” 

“You don’t want me to cry but you’re going to make me again” Patrick laughed and shook his head “I’m tired from crying, let me lay the towel down and I’ll take a nap. You’ll be here?” 

Pete nodded making soft squeaks again, Patrick curled up in the towel like a burrito and slowly drifted off to sleep with Pete petting his hair. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!  
> 


End file.
